


Surprising Switches

by OverlyInvestedFangirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, People Change People
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 05:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15988751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverlyInvestedFangirl/pseuds/OverlyInvestedFangirl
Summary: A month of house switches to promote house unity makes for an interesting time at Hogwarts. Originally a drabble done for the Facebook group Platform 9 & 3/4s House Switch Drabble contest.





	1. Chapter 1

The month of unity Mcgonagall called it, a month of insight. You know what Ron called it, the month of bloody headaches. First he had to pack all his belongings up to take with him as he moved around the houses this month. Then he had to let someone else sleep in his bed, so what if the house elves washed and changed the sheets. In his mind the bed would not be the same when he returned, it would be tainted with essence of Slytherin. Not to mention sleeping down in the dungeons for an entire week when it was their turn to be a Slytherin. He would probably end up freezing his balls off, maybe that's why the Slytherins were so nasty, the cold of the dungeons had frozen their hearts. All of this because Mcgonagall had decided that the students should step into each others shoes as a way to get over the animosity. Why couldn't he just spend the month napping and eating in the room of requirement instead of switching houses every week. It wasn't until he was on his way down to the Great Hall to receive the first lot of new house assignments for the first week that he had a panicked realisation. He tugged urgently at Hermiones sleeve, who of course was annoyingly excited to learn more about the other houses and had none of his reservations about this. “Hermione…. What if I can't answer the riddle to get into the Ravenclaw Tower? Or I get kicked out of the dungeons by the Bloody Baron? Or I can't find the Hufflepuff entrance? What am I going to do ‘Mione?” Ron frantically questioned a giggling Hermione who calmly gave him a half-hug. “First of all, Ron you really need to relax, remember what happened last time you didn't relax when I told you?” Hermione asked, almost regretting it after seeing his panic-stricken eyes, almost. “Seriously Ron you will be OK, someone will help you answer the riddle for Ravenclaw. Just like someone will help you get to the Hufflepuff common room. And you are daft if you think Mcgonagall would allow the Bloody Baron to kick you out of Slytherin during this house exchange. Now let's hurry up or we'll miss something important.” Grabbing a slightly calmer albeit still reluctant Ron by the arm Hermione drags him to the Great Hall. *** It was eerily quite when Mcgonagall had stood up at the podium. Everyone wanting to know which house they were going into first. “Now you have all been made aware of what's going on, we want you to have a better understanding of your fellow students and we decided this was the best way to do so. You will draw a slip of parchment with the name of a house printed on it from this hat then you will go sit at the table designated to the house you drew out. Once everyone has been sorted the head of house will escort you to the common room and get you settled in. Now if you please, line up.” With those words the students started making their way to the front of the Great Hall and one by one they drew a slip of paper from the tatty top hat Mcgonagall had decided to use. Reminiscent of the muggle magicians Hermione was so fond of. Finally Ron had reached the front of the line and tentatively reached a hand into the hat as if it held a venomous spider waiting to bite him. His fingers closed around a piece of parchment and he pulled it from the hat. Slowly he turned it over to reveal a single word listed on it. Hufflepuff. A small sigh of relief could be heard by those around him. He happily made his way to the Hufflepuff table where thankfully Hermione had also been placed. At least he had her to help him through the first week. After everyone was sorted Professor Sprout called the new Puffs to attention and got them to follow her. Rons attention peaked when he realised they were headed in the direction of the kitchens. Maybe he could make snack trips to the kitchen to help make the next week better. Surely someone would tell him how to get into the kitchens. Maybe this month wouldn't be so bad after all he thought. He knew everything would be OK when Professor Sprout opened the common room door behind a set of barrels and he was instantly greeted by the scent of freshly baked cookies.


	2. Hufflepuff House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron finds Hufflepuff is more to his taste than he expected

Ron was beginning to realise how wrong his silly prejudices had been. Not only were the Hufflepuffs that had remained in the house for the first week incredibly lovely and caring people but those transferred from Ravenclaw and Slytherin were actually surprisingly easy to get along with. 

 

The first day in Hufflepuff he was pretty sure was the most relaxed he had ever been at Hogwarts. He had indeed smelt freshly baked cookies when entering the Hufflepuff common room, that wasn't all however. They had prepared a miniature welcome feast for their new members. 

 

Complete with plates piled high with assorted sandwiches, roast chicken pieces, mini pies, jacket potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, treacle tarts, apple pies, various types of cakes as well as a table, right next to the crackling log fireplace in the centre of the back wall, dedicated to smore creating. Who needed trips to the kitchen when they had half of its contents in here already. 

 

They also had a ton of games organised, the first was designed to help everyone get to know everyone else. Some of the questions included name, original house, a few likes and dislikes as well as one thing they were looking forward to this month during the switches. 

 

What surprised Ron most was there were things he learnt about even his fellow Gryffindors. He never thought he'd learn about those in his own house from this experience but that first ice breaker game really did reveal a lot about all the people he was amongst. 

 

Then after everyone had started to relax around each other games began to be introduced, everything from muggle card and board games, wizard charades to two truths and one lie were played throughout the day. The Hufflepuffs had set up a scavenger hunt in the common room for the people from the other houses to do. The best part about the scavenger hunt, instead of a prize you just kept what you found. The reason this was so good was they had gone all out by using what Ron swore was every different type of candy Honeydukes sold. 

 

If nothing else went right that first day would have been enough to convince Ron that Hufflepuffs were some of the nicest, most fun people at Hogwarts. As it was the rest of the week was just as great as that Sunday spent getting to know his fellow students and he was already losing his prejudices against all the houses by the end of that first week in Hufflepuff. 

 

It felt homey and welcoming in Hufflepuff. During the week they studied and did their homework in the common room together every evening. 

 

A mountain of snacks and drinks were on the tables every evening during study time and it certainly helped Rons motivation to study. Despite the main reasoning for him doing so being food, Hermione had said she was proud of Ron for being at the study sessions every night. 

 

Ron even made a conscious effort to sit next to a different person each night, although Hermione was always close by as a precaution incase Ron felt too out of his depth. He was beginning to realise just how kind and hard working the Hufflepuffs were. Everyone helped everyone with their studies, pushing them on to finish the homework. 

 

Ron was pretty sure they always finished the work the day they got it, he had never been so ahead with work in his life which was saying something considering he had Hermione help him with pretty much everything over the years. Although usually he had left it until last minute to ask her, something he would be changing now. 

 

He was definitely going to be suggesting to the Gryffindors that they had snack filled study sessions from now on. Maybe he could convince the other houses to do the same over the next few weeks. That would definitely make this house switch better, although he already felt silly for how badly he had reacted at first. It may have been a little childish. 

 

On the Friday night, two days before they changed houses again, the Hufflepuffs had brought every bit of bedding from the dormitories and made blanket forts. They had moved the various plants found on every shelf so they could attach the sheets and blankets to them. The floor was completely covered in pillows of all shapes and sizes except where miniature tables had been set up with dozens of lolly and popcorn filled bowls. 

 

The one side that had been left open was facing the new projector screen that had been set up specifically for this weekend, although Ron had no doubts that they would repeat this for the next two switches as well. The Hufflepuffs would say it wasn't fair if only one set of visitors got to experience this. 

 

That morning they had set up a poll on the wall to decide what movies would be watched over the weekend. The muggleborns and half-bloods were the ones that came up with the options due to them having the most knowledge of movies. In the end they had decided on a mix of genres. 

 

They would start off with The Lion King and Toy Story movies, then move onto Aladdin, Meet The Robinsons, Pocahontas (Hermione had burst out laughing at the irony of that choice because apparently it was about learning to accept those different to you) and the Brother Bear Movies. After those then they would be completely changing genres to horror although they wanted to spread the horror over all the nights, with some of the Halloween movies, Trick ‘R’ Treat and Friday The 13th movies. 

 

The other days would be spent making their way through the Marvel movies, The Lord Of The Rings series and the Star Wars series. It was going to be awesome Ron thought, two days of watching movies and eating snacks with his new found friends. 

 

He had been right, he was probably five pounds from all the food he had eaten without doing much exercise to counter act it but it had definitely been worth it. There were laughs, frights and even a few tears. Although Ron would vehemently deny that he had cried when Mufasa died, it was just an eyelash that had gotten stuck in his eye. 

 

At the end of the first week of switching Ron could genuinely say that he had enjoyed his time in Hufflepuff. He had forgotten all about his worries of not fitting in or hating it in another house. He didn't mind so much that someone else would be sleeping in his bed and he was actually looking forward to temporarily joining the other houses. 

 

The Hufflepuffs had a way of making everyone relax and be friendly, Slytherins and all. As he headed to the Great Hall to get sorted again he was glad to say he left the common room with more friends than he had entered with. 

 


	3. Ravenclaw House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron learns there's more to Ravenclaws than just book smarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone I did plan to upload this a while ago then it slipped my mind so it's been sitting in my docs waiting until now, I hope you enjoy!

Once again Ron found himself lining up in the Great Hall with Mcgonagall on the podium with the charmed top hat in hand. Harry had quickly found Hermione and himself amongst the throng of students. He had been placed in Ravenclaw first and said that he really enjoyed his time there. 

Apparently they had gotten everyone to perform a play and it had been an eye opening experience. Not only did Harry find plays extremely fascinating, the Ravenclaws were far from the uptight studious types they had thought most of them were. They were all about learning but they weren't elitist about it, if you were learning they were happy and proud no matter what skill level you were at. 

“Turns out I really enjoy philosophy, they really opened my eyes to a lot of things. History is a brilliant teacher or so they said. I won't spoil it but I think Mcgonagall is on the right track with these house switches, we really were a bit daft to hold onto these prejudices without even knowing the people we were hating.” Harry practically gushed. 

“Blimey mate you sound like a different person, what's gotten into you?” Ron joked with his best friend. 

“Just a bit of wisdom.” He quickly retorted with a cheeky grin on his face. Hermione tried and failed to suppress a giggle at the boys antics. 

“Some things never change do they?” She asked though it was clearly rhetorical even to Ron. Harry and Ron just grinned and pulled her into a group hug. 

“No some things really don't, like us always being friends yeah?” Ron replied. Despite enjoying making new friends, Ron didn't think anyone could replace these two amazing people. Though he regularly worried about the possibility of them drifting apart, something he dreaded the thought of. 

They had been through a lot together over the years, dark wizard trying to kill Harry and all certainly made for some bonding experiences. Even though they themselves had a lot of differences he really couldn't ask for better friends. 

Hermione and Harry responded within milliseconds of each other, both commenting their agreement. Then they were brought to attention by a surprisingly loud throat clearing from Mcgonagall. 

“We shall begin momentarily, first a few words. I hope that this past week has given you some insight into your peers and who they are as people, not who you think they are as a house. May friendships blossom, minds be opened and new experiences had! Now onto the resorting.” Mcgonagall cheerfully exclaimed. 

One by one they drew out another slip of parchment from the tatty top hat Mcgonagall was apparently rather fond of. Harry went up first out of the trio and got put into Hufflepuff, from the look on his face it was a good thing in Harrys mind. 

Ron and Hermione had told him about the movie nights earlier and he had been excited for it. Movies and unlimited snacks weren't something he had a lot of experience with while living with the Dursleys. 

Hermione went up next and landed herself in Ravenclaw, Ron was hoping to get the same. As much as he had enjoyed the past week he didn't want to go it alone just yet. With Harry getting Hufflepuff it was Ravenclaw or bust. 

Ron wiped his hand on his robes to remove the nervous sweat that had built up since Mcgonagall had stopped talking and the line had begun moving. Fumbling around for a few seconds before grabbing onto a slip of parchment. He slowly pulls it out to examine the word that will, in his mind make or break the next week for him. 

A sigh of relief can be heard and Mcgonagall gives Ron a slight frown before announcing loudly “Ravenclaw!” to the rest of the Great Hall. Ron moves to the table holding the rest of his new housemates and slides in beside Hermione. The relief still obvious on his face. 

After the rest of the students had been sorted (Malfoy, Millicent, Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Pansy and Theo were also put in Ravenclaw much to Rons disappointment) the new groups once again followed their temporary head of houses to their new residences for the week. At least living in Gryffindor tower had prepared some of them for the workout climbing all those stairs gave them. 

Some of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were finding it a little harder to adjust to the added exercise. The distance to the dungeons and kitchens was not nearly as long as to the top of the towers. As evidenced by the laboured breathing and low grumbled complaints that were heard on their way up. 

When they got to the door that allowed them access to the common room Ron briefly saw a beautiful bronze eagle knocker before it was hidden by the numerous students vying to see the entry. In a wise, majestic voice it asked, 

“What is always coming but never arrives?” As they had been told it would, as you had to answer the riddle given to gain entry. 

To which Professor Flitwick responded, 

“Tomorrow.” And the door swung open after stating “Correct.” In response to Flitwicks answer. 

Stepping in Ron saw a long open room with views of the mountains and the ceiling was covered in stars that had been painted on. He heard a gasp from his left and he didn't doubt it was Hermione reacting to the bookcases adorning the room. She would always be a sucker for books and a library. 

On the tables in the common room they had set up tea, coffee and various afternoon tea snacks such as an assortment of sandwiches, scones, cakes and biscuits all piled on ornate multi-tiered silver platters. There was a crackling fire that further added to the literary aesthetic that the room produced. They were ushered inside and encouraged to sit down and help themselves. 

As a way to get to know each other and introduce themselves, they were each asked to state their name and three facts about themselves. As they went around the room answering it was curious to see just how much three facts could show you about someone. Likes and dislikes, fears and aspirations, how shy or outgoing they were based on what they were willing to reveal.

After that they played some more games that showed others more about themselves. After dinner they got put into teams of five and and they held a trivia competition based on the different houses and Hogwarts. Surprise, surprise Hermiones group ended up winning, the prize being a gift basket of Honeydukes and Zonkos products that got shared between the team. There were five of each product to remove the possibility of arguments.

The best part about the games and trivia was that although there was definitely some competitiveness there was never any hostility about winning. It was all done in a friendly manner and the winners were congratulated on their achievement. 

Those that hadn't won still got congratulated on their efforts and Ron couldn't deny that he felt a swell of affection for the Ravenclaws due to the inclusiveness being shown to everyone no matter where they were intelligence wise. 

Stuffed on candy, snacks and sandwiches they spent the rest of the evening by the fire discussing how everyone was feeling about the house switches so far. Ron had expected the Slytherins to complain about it or make some rude comment about the other houses but surprisingly none of them did. 

A week in a different house really had made them more civil he observed. He thought that maybe Mcgonagall was right about all this. It wasn't just the Slytherins either, everyone genuinely seemed to be getting along better. What was it Hermione had said to him, we're stuck doing this either way so may as well make the best of the experience. It seemed most were on the same train of thought. 

***

They had been given parts and a script for the aforementioned play on their second day in Ravenclaw. It was a muggle play titled Translations by the Irish playwright Brian Friel. Apparently it was chosen due to its plot featuring similar parallels to their current situation. Communication, beliefs and cultural differences were some of the themes seen in the play though it was said to be a play primarily and singularly about language according to the playwright. 

Ron found it highly amusing that Hermione was cast as Máire and Draco was cast as Yolland who were love interests. Even funnier was that Ron was cast as Manus, the one interested in Máire but did not have his affections returned. Hermione and him had already discovered they weren't ever going to be a couple, they might have thought that previously but they really were better as friends. 

Not that he'd ever tell anyone else but Hermione had confided in him recently that she thought Draco was rather attractive despite being more than just a bit of a prat. Which made their obvious chemistry during rehearsals cause him to uncharacteristically giggle, however he laughed outright when he read that their characters kissed in the play. 

It wasn't until the actual full presentation of it on their final night in Ravenclaw, which was in front of all the Hogwarts staff, that they ran it from start to finish in full costume. They had been practicing every night since they had gotten their scripts and roles. 

The nervousness in the air was palpable before the curtain was raised. They had all worked really hard on the play and even though it was just for the staff they wanted to do well. Working on the play together had made them feel close and tight knit. It was actually nice having to focus on the play as that had meant that they had no time to drudge up their prejudices and hostility. Ravenclaw wasn't know as the smart house for nothing. 

***

It had been a huge success, the staff all seemed to love it and the play had run smoothly from start to finish with only a few minor costume issues. Although those had been quickly resolved with some magic and teamwork. 

Ron had smiled to himself when after they had all taken their bow, Hermione and Draco had excitedly hugged each other during the celebration before realising what was happening and quickly separating. Although he did see them walk down to the lake hand in hand later that evening, it seems the house switches had done more than make friends. He hoped things went well, Hermione deserved to be happy and maybe Malfoy could give her that. 

What really surprised him was when Mcgonagall had pulled him aside after the play and told him that she was really proud of the growth in maturity and acceptance he was showing. Ron had actually blushed from the praise received from the Headmistress, he swore he saw a tear as she looked over all the students celebrating the success of the play together. 

She might usually be stern faced and strict but she had a soft side too, it was obvious how much she deeply cared for all of her students and Hogwarts. If anyone was to be a good replacement for Dumbledore it was her. 

As the night wore on and they all started to settle down, the staff having left about an hour ago, Ron began to feel almost sad. He was a little shocked to realise he didn't want this to end. He was probably having some of the best times he had had at Hogwarts during these last two weeks. 

Only two more houses to go before everyone would return to their normal houses for the rest of the year. The thought of them possibly returning to how it had been before after this was all over was like a sharp stab to his gut. 

Could that really be an outcome he wondered. He desperately hoped that he wasn't the only one wanting this new comradery to continue after the switching was over. He could happily say he now had friends in all of the houses, he was even able to talk to Malfoy without either of them insulting the other during the conversation. 

Unlike Trelawney he wasn't a seer so he would just have to wait and see he supposed. With tomorrow would come a new house and more new experiences. He was excited to see what the future had in store. 

 


End file.
